"I won't show up to the Decathlon practise tomorrow, tell Harrington"
He is not really sure why MJ texted on facebook him out of all the students in the team, but whatever. He quickly replied:
"Not a problem"
"If he'll be mad, tell him I'm visiting a doctor or think up something else reasonable"
Since when does she even care, Mr. Harrington's cool and even if he wasn't, it's not a big deal. There certainly are bigger deals that she doesn't care about at all. She is the team capitan now, maybe that's it?
"He won't be mad"
He can hear that she have replied, but he can also hear May calling him, because the pancakes are ready. They are too hot to eat now anyway, so he looks at the screen of his smartphone and reads:
"I don't know, I'm not used to people not going nuts all the time, I live with my father."
Gosh, that's… Sad? That's not a question, of course that's sad, but why did she wrote that? He've never heard her speaking like this, or talking about her family at all. Is it like a random honest throwaway or a confession? Is he supposed to make a joke or comfort her?
"So how was the school today? And, you know, spider-maning?" said May unexpectedly.
"Fine. I'm always fine in school, school's easy. And the other thing? Nothing happened in this neighbourhood all day, at one moment I thought there'll be a bag theft, but no, I'm just getting paranoiac. I'll go again at night."
It was weird how normal was aunt May with all that superhero stuff. At first she was freaking out, of course, but afer he explained to her why it is different when he puts himself in danger and when any other fifteen-year-old jumps between buildings, she started to be more chill about it. Pros of living in a world full of strangely dressed crime fighters, probably. He still felt guilty about not telling her why he really swings between buildings, but he simply couldn't force himself to tell anyone about his part is uncle Ben's death, her especially. He told her that he has to use his superpowers for good, because if he doesn't, the bad things are his fault, but have never told her that these are uncle Ben's words, not his. It was killing him, particularly when she thanked him for eventually being honest.
"Just be careful"
"I always am"
Pancakes and May talking to him from the kitchen redirected his attention from weird textmessage from MJ. Really, what to write to her? It would be rude not to write back now.
"I'm sorry that your father is like that" It sounded very stupid and basic, but he decided writing his first thought was probably the best idea, because anything other than that would probably look forced. Well, it would be forced.
"Yeah, me too"
Ok, it is officially worse.
"Stop looking at you phone and eat before it'll go cold"
A least he had a reason not to answer immediately, the pancakes will go cold. What should you say to a person who's telling you her father that you don't even know is shitty? Telling her it's probably not that bad sounded like the worst possible thing, because it might be even worse, how would he know. Kids in school complain about their parents all the time, but somehow it seemed worse than usual "I hate my mother, she won't let me go to a party" stuff. His confusion over the plate of pancakes was interrupted by another message that he decided to see risking May giving him the look again.
"Is your father like this too? Giving you hell whether there is a reason or no, if there is none thinking some shit up to shout at you for three hours?"
Ough.
Now he knows what to write, because there is only one possible answer, but that doesn't make it better at all. It's just… any other reply would be a lie, but Michelle very much doesn't want to read that next message now. That's the worst possible thing to see as a reply to a confession about an abusive father. He would ask May what to do, but at this point it would be giving someone's secrets away. Maybe not answerig at all would be a better option? Maybe it's better to be rude for her own good? No, that would make her feel like her problem is not worth a reply on freaking facebook. Gosh, he is supposed to help people, but he has no idea how to even don't make this worse.
He finishes pancakes so he doesn't make May sad too.
And then he writes, feeling like a shit:
"My parents are dead"
Sometimes he wishes his parents were alive, that's true, but that's because he'd like to meet them since he doesn't remmber them at all. Right now he wishes they were alive, so MJ wouldn't have to read this message.
"Ugh, sorry" of course she replies that, because now she will feel guilty about complaining about her alive father.
What to write now? That it's not a big deal? It's not like it isn't. This conversation is a trainwreck.
"My father being dead does not make your less awful" That's probably smartest thing he've said in this conversation, and it's not even that smart.
"Yeah, but idk, I'm shitting on my father to you, and your is dead, I feel bad."
Yes. Yes, she does.
Ugh, he goes back to his room, because now he is just staring at his phone and supposingly making some troubled faces, May will probably ask him if everything's alright in a minute.
"Don't feel bad, seriously, if your father is this bad, you shouldn't feel bad about complaining about him at all"
"But I do, even when I'm complaining to a person with alive parents" and suddenly this conversation gets even more intimate, much more intimate than what he would ever expect from a conversation with MJ.
"You really shouldn't"
"Don't tell me what to do, loser"
There it is, MJ again.